You are here

6A/5A Notes: Clarksville, Alma Ready For Round 2

By Leland Barclay

Special to the Times Record

Alma hosts Clarksville today in the game of the season in the 5A-West.

“It’s an exciting game,” Alma head coach Stan Flenor said. “It’s the first game of the second round of conference. Our community is excited about it, our school is excited about it, and our players have prepared the last three days for it. I know they’re going to play well.”

Clarksville breezed through the first half of the conference round-robin unscathed in its first season in 5A after being elevated from 4A, where the Panthers won the last two state titles.

“We’re playing well enough,” Clarksville head coach Tony Davis said. “These guys have been in it long enough that we know it’s that time of the year; it’s tournament time. We don’t have districts or regionals. We know it’s time to make a run and get a little momentum.

“Friday night, it starts there. It’s a huge game for both of us. We’re excited about the opportunity. It will be a fun atmosphere.”

“Last time, we played exceptional at times and they just beat us,” Flenor said. “They made shots and used their athletic ability inside and hurt us in the areas. For us, it’s about playing four quarters and playing solid throughout. We have to score with them, and hopefully get some stops along the way. We have to keep their athleticism from hurting us.”

The Panthers used a 14-4 run in the third quarter to propel them to victory.

“We led throughout the first half and had control of the momentum and the pace,” Flenor said. “They’ll play any way you want to. They’ll play fast, and they’ll play slow. They can score in bunches.”

Clarksville scored 21 points in each of the second and third quarters to run away to the win.

“Both teams felt each other out,” Davis said. “Defensively, we settled down. We quit gambling. That was the key to the game. We sat down and make every possession count. That’s when we gave ourselves a cushion that we needed in the game.”

The Airedales have won an unprecedented four straight outright 5A-West titles. If Clarksville wins tonight, the Panthers have a seemingly insurmountable two-game lead. If Alma wins, then the Airedales move into a first-place tie for the top seed and the conference championship.

“Everything we do is prep for this type of game and then what we need to do in the state tournament,” Davis said. “We try to put ourselves in the toughest position possible to prep ourselves for Friday night. We want to be focused to give it our best shot.”

In addition to the daunting road trip to Alma on Friday, Clarksville still has to make the trek to Harrison and Morrilton. Alma has only a bus trip to Morrilton as a challenge.

“It’s a big, high-profile game, but it’s not our last game and it’s not our only game,” Flenor said. “We’ll play our best, shake hands and get ready to play Tuesday. Ever game is important in this league. We’ve got a lot of games left. We’ve got a long ways to go. We talk about not putting all of our eggs in one basket.”

The game will feature plenty of star power with Alma’s Brock Widders and Gage Jensen, who are part of a senior class that is 63-13 in three seasons, and Clarksville’s Dederick Lee, who has committed to the Arkansas Razorbacks, and brothers Freddie and Kendrick.

Greenwood Ready

Both the Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs are 4-3 in the 7A/6A-Central after half of the conference season.

“If you would have told me 4-3 before the season started, I’d have told you you were crazy,” Bulldogs head coach Brian Martin said. “Our guys believe in themselves and they compete each and every night. Our work’s not finished. This is something we can definitely build upon.

“We’re getting better and better each game. We want to peak at the right time like we did last year. We’re starting to show signs of that.”

Both Greenwood teams started 1-3 in conference, and now have rebounded with three consecutive wins.

“Being 4-3 at this point is good,” Lady Bulldogs head coach Clay Reeves said. “Two of the three conference games we lost were at Parkview and at Hall, and we were down two (points) with a minute to go. We lost to Northside here pretty handily, but we’ve had a chance to win every game with the exception of Northside.”

The Lady Bulldogs lost to Parkview by one point and to Hall by two points. Greenwood hosts both of those teams on the next two Friday nights.

“There’s a chance we could have been 6-1,” Reeves said. “We’ll take 4-3 and get better. We’re working on some things that we’ve had trouble with that will help us in the second round of conference play. We really haven’t gotten good at them because we just started working on them. We’ve got five more weeks until the state tournament comes around.”

Greenwood also recorded sweeps of Southside, Little Rock Catholic and Mount Saint Mary’s, Russellville and Conway.

“We could have gotten our heads down after starting 1-3,” Martin said. “We responded. We took them one at a time and here we are 4-3.”

Both teams will make the 6A State Tournament, which will be played at Greenwood the final week of February and concluding with the semifinals on March 2. The finals will be held in Little Rock’s Barton Coliseum the following weekend.

Airedalettes Battling

Alma won its final two games of the first half of the conference schedule, and now the Airedalettes control their own destiny.

Vilonia and Huntsville are running away with the top two spots in the conference, but the other two playoff berths are wide open.

Morrilton is 4-3, Greenbrier, Clarksville and Harrison are all 3-4 with Alma a game back at 2-5.

The Airedalettes have four home games this time through the conference, beginning on Friday against Clarksville.